


Photoshop Magic

by Suckerfurfics



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Gen, Humor, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, alya totally doesn't know how to use photoshop fight me, kind of crack i guess?, this took me three (3) nights to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21922858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suckerfurfics/pseuds/Suckerfurfics
Summary: When Alya approached him with a bargain in mind, Nathaniel agreed without much thought.After all, what could go wrong with a simple photo editing job?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 88





	Photoshop Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Funnily enough, I'm certified at using Photoshop now :3
> 
> Me: *totally ignores the fact that Miracle Queen and Loveeater happened* 
> 
> Happy holidays! This is my gift to you all since I pretty much went off the grid for *checks last posted fic* six... months...
> 
> Anyways enjoy! This is my first time writing in Nathaniel's POV and it was pretty interesting.

Alya opened her bedroom door for her classmate, surreptitiously casting her eyes to look around the hall before pulling him in by his overshirt and closing the door behind him. “Seriously, thank you _so_ much for doing this.”

“Uh... no problem?” Nathaniel blinked at her in confusion behind his bangs, arms awkwardly hanging by his side. It felt foreign, not being able to hide behind his sketchbook.

Alya grinned sheepishly at his expression, “Sorry, the twins can be a bit… nosy.” She grimaced, gesturing for him to sit on her desk chair. 

Nathaniel sat, eyeing the frankly large map on her wall. Letting his eyes wander around her room, he said, “So what did you say you needed my help with?”

“Well,” Alya drawled, leaning against her desk. “A little birdy told me a certain _individual_ knows how to use photoshop.” 

That individual, Nathaniel guessed, was him. He _really_ should tell Alix to stop broadcasting his abilities to everyone. 

He loved his best friend, he really did. He just didn’t want to get dragged into another one of her bets with Kim.

But- surely he couldn’t be the _only_ person in class who could operate photoshop.

“I’d ask Marinette but she already has a lot going on. I don’t want to overwhelm her, especially since she doesn’t seem to be as bubbly as usual.” Alya continued as if reading his mind.

Nathaniel winced, “Yeah... that’s probably for the best.” He noticed that Marinette seemed more withdrawn than usual. It was reminiscent of the years before Alya had joined their class, back when Chloè did whatever she wanted because of her father. Being friends with Alya had made her more self-confident, being able to light up a whole room with a smile. 

It’s what made Nathaniel notice her in the first place. 

“The little birdie is right,” he admitted, a bit abashedly. “But I don’t go around giving people my services for free. What’s in it for me?”

The redhead tapped her chin as if thinking of an idea and snapped her fingers. “How about… for every picture of mine you edit, you get recognition. This includes a shoutout to commission your artworks and crediting you on your editing skills.” Alya leaned in, her voice dropping to a loud whisper, “I’ll also get Ladybug and Chat Noir to sign one of your comic books.” Her hazel eyes glittered in triumph, already knowing she’d won. 

Well… he had to admit, she _did_ strike a hard bargain. “Alright,” Nathaniel yielded, “I’ll do it.”

“Yes!” Alya jumped up, giving a celebratory fist pump. “Thank you so much, Nate. I _swear_ you won’t regret it!”

* * *

For the next few weeks, Nathaniel was content with the deal he had with Alya. The comics he’d created with Marc had gained much more publicity than they had expected, and soon he had to close up his commission slots to make time for other activities. He found himself feeling more confident about his art; something that inspired him to create even more art. 

He even got away with upping the price for his commissions without many people complaining, which was a feat in itself. 

Of course, he also had to endure some friendly ribbing from Alix, but you can’t get what you always want in life. 

“What, no thank you to your best friend for getting you this opportunity?” Alix teased smugly, rolling around in her skates. Not for the hundredth time, Nathaniel wondered how she could travel in those things without getting a broken bone or sprained _something_ every day. “If it weren’t for me, it would’ve taken you longer to get the recognition your art deserves.”

He was silent for a moment, his eyes focused on the graphite drawing in front of him. It was another superhero drawing. He wondered at times; if he hadn’t gotten up enough courage to join Alix in the art room, would he have met Marc and paired up with him? He supposed he should be thankful to Chloè for spilling his crush to the whole class all those months ago. There was a silver lining in his situation. He was grateful, in a way, that he had ended up akumatized. If not, he wouldn’t have started the comic with Marc or even gotten the idea of Mightyllustrator.

(He would never actually thank Chloè though; her ego was large enough already.)

Looking up at his friend, Nathaniel gave Alix a sincere smile. “Thanks, Alix.”

She harrumphed, her pink hair falling to cover her eyes. “Yeah, well don’t expect it to happen again.” She blew on it in irritation, trying to get it out of her face.

If he were anyone else, he might have thought the statement to be true. However, he had known Alix for a few years and knew that the turn of her lips said otherwise.

* * *

“How does this look?”

Nathaniel glanced away from the computer only to get a lapful of Alya’s laptop. He squinted, baffled at the picture on the screen. “Is this… a badly photoshopped picture of Adrien as Chat Noir?” 

Alya huffed, “I’m a journalist, not a designer. I may know how to use a simple editing software for my videos but I’m no pro at photoshop. That’s why I hired you in the first place.” Pushing her glasses up her nose to keep them from sliding down further, she nodded at the picture. “I once showed Marinette a similar picture of Adrien with cat ears and Chat’s suit scribbled on. She definitely wasn’t impressed with my extraordinary abilities. They look kind of similar though, don’t they?” She plopped down onto her bed with a bounce.

He hummed, his face contemplating. “Maybe if I…” Nathaniel saved the edit as a copy of a photoshop file before clearing off the edits his kind-of-business-partner made (he didn’t want to be inconsiderate of her hard work, after all). He searched online for a picture of Chat Noir’s suit in a similar pose, editing it a bit before pasting it over the image of his classmate. It took a bit of work for him to arrange the cat ears the way he wanted it to (but that was more because of his need for perfection than trouble with the software) and the eyes were a bit of trouble, but the end result came out the way he wanted it to. 

Actually, maybe a little _too_ much. It was frightening, how identical their classmate looked to Chat Noir. 

A glance to his right showed that Alya had come to the same conclusion.

Marinette came through the door with a happy grin, her face flushed. “Hey Al, what are you doing?” She halted when her eyes landed on Nathaniel and started to back away, her hands gesturing the way she did when she was flustered. “Oh! Hey Nate! Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just head ou-” Her words trailed off one she looked behind the boy, her breath hitching. Everyone froze for a moment, suspended in time. Marinette opened her mouth, an unrecognizable look in her eyes-

-and screamed.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on winter break now so I have more time to work on stuff! I've written down some ideas, but (as usual) they're pretty much plotless. I'm also debating on writing a sequel for this drabble- an aftermath of sorts.
> 
> You can find me at purrfectlycontent on Tumblr!


End file.
